A surprising return of solid science fiction storytelling

Rating: 8/10 (20 April 2007)

Like many people, I took the trailer for The Island at face-value and assumed that this would be another mindless action flick. Michael Bay's name was on it, and he's not the first name that comes to mind when listing directors of cerebral films.
However, after finally viewing this film, I feel that it deserved to do much better at the box offices than it did.
The Island cleverly borrows elements from films like: THX-1138, Coma, Future World, Blade Runner, and Logan's Run. Although it does have its fair share of action sequences, it still manages to slip in messages about greed, morality, the possible future of cloning, and what people will do in order to survive.
The treatment was exceptional, and it represents one of the few films that actually manages to modernize the classic 60s and 70s science-fiction story-telling style, without throwing away the substance or feel of that time-period's most notable sci-fi films. My only qualm with this picture is with the over-use of action scenes. There are a couple of sequences that are so over-the-top as to diminish the level of believability for this film. Cutting back on these scenes would have helped the movie's dramatic elements as well.
Having seen The Island, I have no choice but to cast my vote for Michael Bay and the team that created this film to be the ones to make a motion picture version of The Bionic Man (6 Billion Dollar Man -- factoring in inflation?), if such a movie is ever slated for production.
Do yourself a favor, and watch The Island. If you're a fan of classic sci-fi film, then this is one that you won't want to miss.